A Good Friday Meal

Hi and hello once again. It's been a long time, but be assured that it was all work and no play. Over the past few days my wife and I have been working very hard to get authentic Trini style recipes on camera for you all. This week was a very hectic one for me because of the Easter celebrations. But of course I did not forget our cooking tradition on Good Friday when we traditionally eat ground provision and fish. This year was no different; fish is usually expensive during this time because of its high demand (ground provision also). And coupled with the rising food cost in our country, the prices this year were ridiculously high, for example King Fish was $24.99 (TT) per pound and in some places it was high as $30.00. Of course, being the frugal type, I decided not to buy; I substituted with tinned pink salmon and saltfish. Fortunately, I did not have to buy the provision.

dasheen (taro)

cassava

The ground provision are usually peeled and boiled and other staples like plantain and carrots are usually boiled also. The saltfish and the pink salmon are usually sautéd with onions and tomatoes. For the recipe on how to prepare the saltfish (and likewise the salmon) see my post on fry bake and saltfish. As you see in the picture below, we also added some callaloo and some fresh green salad (lettuce and cucumbers) to complement the meal because we believe in balancing our meal.

Provision (dasheen, cassava, sweet potato) and saltfish. Note the callaloo and green salad.

Before I go I just want to leave with you all a few highlights of our Good Friday walk. This year it was done a little different; each station of the cross was acted out with soldiers, mourners, even whipping men, a "Jesus", etc. We started very early about 4 a.m., to beat the scorching sun; in the end we completed the walk (about 2.5 miles) at 6:30 a.m and we all had hot cross buns afterwards.